Service truck



w. WENTHE SERVICE TRUCK Sept. 25, 1945.

Filed June 25," 1944 2 sneets she et 1 v INVENTOR. w gb' uwww/ .2. i'z w zflm/ ATTORNEYS.

h 'W.IWENTHE 2,385,559

SERVICE TRUCK Filed June 26, 1944 2 She etS-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 25, 1945 SERVICE TRUCK William Wenthe, Milwaukee, Wis'., assignor to Wenthe-Davidson Engineering 00., Milwaukee,

Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application June 26 1944, Serial No. 542,223

2 Claims.

This invention relates .in general to improvements in service trucks, and relates more specifically to various improvements in the construction and operation of knock-down stock. room trucks adapted for the transportation and stor- 55' age of diverse articles.

The primary object of my present invention is to provide an improved stock room truck which is simple and durable in construction, which may be conveniently shifted from place to place, and which may be readily dismantled so as to occupy minimum space for shipment.

Some of the more important specific objects of the invention are as follows:

To provide an improved knock-down industrial service truck which may be quickly and readily assembled or dismantled, and which when assembled constitutes a sturdy stock room assemblage capable of being transferred from one position to another with very little effort.

To provide an improved service truck superstructure comprising relatively few parts which may be conveniently assembled with the aid of a hammer, to produce a firm support for numerous diverse articles, and which may be likewise dismantled and stacked so as to occupy only a fraction of the assembled space.

To provide an improved manually transportable stock room on wheels the various parts of which are durable in construction, like parts of which are interchangeablysimilar, and which is extremely flexible in its adaptations.

To provide a new and useful service truck assembly which may be manufactured from standard structural metal stock at minimum cost and without the use of fastenings such as bolts, screws, rivets or the like, I l

To provide an improved wheeled truck especially adapted to support relatively heavy loads without damaging the floors or other surfaces over which it is transported, and which may be easily turned on short radii and otherwise ma-. nipulated.

To provide an improved mobile stock room storage unit of great capacity adapted for the reception of. both large or small articles of diverse shapes, and wherein the stored articles are freely accessible and removable without disturbing adjacent articles.

These and other objects and advantages of the present improvement will be apparent from the following detailed description.

A clear conception of the various features constituting the improvement, and of the mode of constructing and of utilizing service trucks em- 55 bodying the invention, may be had by referring to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a typical industrial service truck built in accordance with the invention; 1

Fig. 2 is a front end view of the service truck of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top view of one of the rear corners of the same truck, drawn to a somewhat larger scale;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top view of one of the front corners of the truck, drawn to the same scale as Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the lower portion of one of the corners of the truck superstructure; and

Fig. 6 is a similarly enlarged transverse horizontal section through the same corner.

Although the invention has been shown and described herein as being advantageously applicable to industrial stock room units mounted upon wheels and which are manually transportable, it is not my intention to thereby unnecessarily restrict the utility of the improved features which may be more generally applicable to other types of trucks.

Referring to the drawings, the improved stock room unit shown therein, comprises in general, a main approximately rectangular truck platform or body 8 formed of'opposite side channel irons 9, front and rear transverse beams l0, and any desired'number of transverse re-enforcing members rigidly interconnecting the irons 9; rear and front wheels ll, l2 respectively upon which the body 8 is mounted for convenient transportation; rear and front upright corner posts l3, l4 respectively detachably secured to the corresponding corners of the lower frame 8; upper opposite side bars l5 having their rear and front ends detachably associated with the upper ends of the adjacent posts l3, l4; and shelf supporting transverse angle bars I6, I! rigidly interconnecting the rear and front corner posts I3, M respectively.

Theside channels 9 and end beams ill of the lower horizontal frame or body 8 are preferably welded to each other at the four corners, and a downwardly tapered channel-shaped socket I8 is also rigidly attached as by welding to the channels 9 and beams ID at each corner as clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The rear supporting wheels ll of the body 8 are preferably spaced far apart and are located relatively near to. the

handle [9 as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2; and the rear corners at least, are preferably pro vided with resilient bumpers 20 as shownin Fig.

3, for the purpose of protecting the corners, Th9

body 8 may thus be rigidly ,cpnstructed of, sta ard metal bars welded together, and inay a conveniently shifted from place to place wi aid of the handle lficooperatingwith thewheels' ll, 12 which provide substantially a three point support for effecting short turning of themobile unit.

The front andrear. upright cQm. p ts. 3-, i y h ed f suitablelengths ofstandard angleiryon; and each oflthe'se, nostsihaswa, tapered end member or channeI-shapedL-Wedse, 2:! rigidly attached to itslowerextremityzas y eldina a d adapted to he snugly ,slip-fittechinto,thaadiacent tapered lower socket l8 as depicted in; Figs. and 1.6 The upperextremity; of each corner post l3, I4 is also provided with a similar emimems her or channel-shaped wedeelflgtri idly. attached thereto, as by.we1di.n ,,but1theseupner W d es 22 are tapered reversely of the lowerwedges 21!. Theitwo rear corn r posts 3;; rei'i cl1yinterconnested. by meansqofgtheirear sheltsupp xting angle bars 16 which are Welded tosgthe posts l3; and; the two. front. omer. n sts "t re l k wis rigidly united bvmeans of; the fron helf pp ng anelefl arsi U. which re. al o w lded o these posts The QQlTIIfiPQDfliIlE, a le a s ll of t e front andrear assembl es; ar eferab y 'disnosedp rall lto andin h r ont l, al m ment with eaeheother, seas to. perm t edvinvw SQlft QlL of on .onmere shel es: 233. as Fiat nd ny des re num er 0f;-. he.se. helf; up or n 6-, vI 1 i may be p ovided. The up er 0121 9 112.? side .bars. .l.5:may elso be formed of standardt n: sister's-c annel ron, andeachiof thes.e ars;, has an upwardly tapered channel sectioned mket e-rfie mlrattaehed to. ach; of, ,epnesiteten y weldinsl. hesesoc ets -sl are-adanted to be. snu -1y, sl p fitte t htoithe adjacent lull-P111: wed es 2.. of he corner. posts 3, Ht; nd, whil he Wedsesfl; 2 normally fricti ha lv oactw t the. adjacent sockets a l:8,- 24;;respectively. t.0;.pro..- vide azrisid assembla e; theyumaybe readily dis: lodeedifro n. h se socketsrwith the, aid otxa hammer or the -like. o as to permit. convenient isman lineof thes perstrueture.

Durin normal .use of the improvedserYice truck,;--the unitmay obviously beiassembled or dismantled at; will, and such assembling and dismantling may; be readily. accomplish wi outtheuseof-special tools. Duringstorage or shipmentiofthe truck units, the upperside bars I5 .are removed from the wedges \24;att1the-.upp.er endsgofthe corner posts l3, I4; and-theshelves ,3;1are likewise removed from the angle bars. I6; I15, The-front and rear end-assemblages comprising-the corner posts 13,. Land :thejshelf supv porting-barsv l;6,i'l1, are also. .removed .fro m the sockets I8 of .the body 8, and all .of these elemerits. may thus be compactly packed for storageor'shipment:

In order to assemble the service truck unit,- it

r is only necessary to apply the lower wedges 2| of the corner posts I3, I4 to the sockets I8 of the mobile body 8, and to thereafter apply the sockets 24 of the upper side bars IE to the upper wedges 22 of the posts l3, [4. This simple op- 'feration will provide a rigid shelf supporting superstructure onto which the shelves 23 may be sllhsfiqllentlyslid fron thefls ideof the unit, and the assembled superstructureobviously has considerable capacity for the storage of diverse articles. The Wedges 2|, 22 cooperating with the reversely tapered sockets I3, 24 respectively, will .riiaifi'tain the structure in assembled condition 'but these wedges may obviously be conveniently removed for dismantliifi of lig s trii'cture by merely tapping the removable elements with a hammer or an iron bar-L multiplicity of transverse angle bars I5 -11 which interconnect the front and rear corner posts l3, 14, not only provide ample shelf supporting means; butalso..prev.ent side displacemerit: ofethe; cor'nen posts; and the welded: construction which is;used :throughoutixthe; assemblage, eliminates. possible .looseriingof parts; due todisplacement of} screws,- bolts, rivets; ortother fastenings. I Y

From; the foregoing.detailedades cription it .will be apparent that; the present. inventionprovides an extremely: simple. compaotiandidurable 5 erviee truck assemblage; which can. be;v most; conveniently v assembled tor. dismantled without that use of special tools andiwith,minimumzlossiofitime. The assemblage 1 can obviously. be .r'na'nufacturcd at relatively low cost-tduev to theme ofrstandard commercial tbar--sectiohs throughout; and the angleandichannel 'bars' utilized'iin the structure provide an T extremely "strongand rigid? storage unit; The provision-Inf iwidelyrspa'ced :rear wheels I l and centrallyllocatedifrontt wheels. I 2--aenables 4 the mobile unit a; be readilymanipulatedsand turned on short radii, amt-the use- 'of the wide faced wheels H [21 also protects the floors. over which the unia is transported The improved serviceftr-u ck assemblage has proven highly satisfactoryand successful in actual commercial use,

and fis obviously extremely flexible :in its adaptations and can accommodatearticles of various sizes] and shapes within relatively limitedspace. It should be'" undr stobd that 'it'isf not 3 desired to limit this'inve'ntio'n'ftothe exact details or constrution or- 'to the prefse mode of use; herein shown and-desc ri;bd;-'for'- variousi e ifie'ations Within thesqop of- 'tlie appended ei im may occur-toper'sons killed-ihth at H 1; Aservicetruek cor-riprising a portable-rectangular platform having a-rifupwa-rdly enl'arg iri tapered socket at eacli' of '-its' mus corners, I a rc'ta-n' ar f r-a e -l6ca'te'd fabove sale; platform and h-aviri a downwardly enlarging-tapered sock et at eac -o f -'itsfour corners fdisposied in vertical alinerherit'with bne 'of' saidplatformsockts eaeh of said sockets consisting of a sheet-met annel-snapeg pieceweidee to the adjacent-platform or frame, andi two pairs ofcorner posts, each pair being connected by -h'drizontal bars} and each post: being formed of -S'tructural 'bar metal "and having oppositely-tapered channebshapedsheet metal wedges welded to the extreme-opposite ends thereof and adapted tofrictionally engage a complementary. pair of-"alined sockets of said platform and frame 2.1. A .service-truck' comprising; a: portable rectangular platform havingan upwardly -.er i'l'ar gingtapered socket, at ea h of its four corners,

a rectangular frame formed of metal angle bars and being located above said platform and having a downwardly enlarging tapered socket at nected by horizontal angle bars, and each post being formed of metal angle bar stock and having oppositely tapered channel-shaped sheetmetal wedges welded in axial alinement with the 5 iextreme opposite ends thereof and adapted to frictionally engage a complementary pair of alined sockets of said platform and frame.

WILLIAM WEN'I'HE. 

